Police chief's book explains culture of law enforcement

Monday

Apr 29, 2013 at 11:21 AM

Being part of law enforcement is like a brotherhood.

Kris JohnsonStaff Writer

Being part of law enforcement is like a brotherhood. There are official and unspoken rules that non-police officers will never fully understand.But Thibodaux Police Chief Scott Silverii set out to escort the outsiders through the unknown police culture in his new book, “A Darker Shade of Blue: From Public Servant to Professional Deviant; Policing's Special Operations Culture.” The book grew from the chief's doctoral dissertation at the University of New Orleans on the “fraternity of law enforcement,” he said.Silverii has a Ph.D. in urban studies from the University of New Orleans. His degree specializes in cultural anthropology.“I know that sounds about as fun as a Monday, but it really is very fascinating,” said Siliverii, who has developed the nickname “Doc” from fellow officers since he graduated with his Ph.D. in December 2011. “I started graduate school at UNO in 2004m and I knew I had to write my dissertation, so I started looking for areas of specificity,” he said. “And what do I know best? Law enforcement.” Dozens of officers showed up at a book discussion the chief hosted at the Thibodaux Branch Library early last week. “It was a very good turnout. A lot of officers from the community came to support him and that was great for us to get people into the library,” said Shannon Porche, north Lafourche's branch librarian. “One of the reasons we had him here is because we like to encourage our local authors to interact with our community,” she said. “When they travel it is not easy for people in the community to be part of it, so the library is a great place for that interaction.” Silverii said he became fascinated with the culture and randomly decided one day during a class discussion to use it as his dissertation topic.“I had just gotten out of years of SWAT and undercover work, and I was making a comment in class about how ‘I've been on the outside for a long time,' and then it hit me. I asked myself ‘What am I saying? What does being on the outside really mean?' I had an epiphany and I wanted to explore that,” he said. “Law enforcement is a lot like a club,” Silverii said. “That's what I discuss in the book. For example, there are so many similarities between cops and outlaw bikers.” Taking his readers through a brief history lesson on the origin of the biker gang, Hell's Angels, Silverii compares and contrasts the group's customs to that of a police force. “These were all military veterans. They were used to living life on the edge, but not they were not criminalistic. A lot of them served the country overseas and they came back to the U.S. and were bored,” he said. “So they started getting together on their bikes and eventually had a run-in with law enforcement. It was a small confrontation, but they became known as bad guys from then on.” Silverii said members of law enforcement are primarily white males in the “middle and lower class and socioeconomic status.” They have a rank structure, a code of silence and adorn themselves in attire that represents what group they belong to and what status they hold, similar to the way gangs do. “Bikers' vests tell everything you need to know. They focus their cultural identity based on patches and pins and ribbons, the same as cops do,” he said. “This book explores what it means to, as we call it, ‘become blue.' How do you come into that first day of police academy as an idealistic, na´ve guy and eventually be able to stand over a dead body and laugh, not at the victim, but as a defense mechanism?” To find this out, the chief traveled across the country for about two years to observe hundreds of cops. He paired that with his personal experiences and education to produce a thought-provoking, informational book. “I like to write. It was kind of a natural progression,” he said. “It's my life's work, and I thought it's a great message, so let's get it out there.” The book costs about $20 and is available on createspace.com. A Kindle e-book version can be found on Amazon.com.

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